The initial reaction to the Stupak amendment — which forbids coverage for abortion from a public insurance plan and prevents private insurers from covering abortions for anyone getting a tax credit — was not anger for many women, but "What? Health insurance covers abortions?!"
Looking into the issue, the Wall Street Journal found that eliminating abortion coverage would have almost no effect because so few women use insurance for the procedure. Women often pay out of pocket because they don't realize insurance covers abortion, or because they choose to keep it private from employer-provided plans or other subscribers, like parents and husbands.
So since many women are paying for their abortions now — and, unfortunately, more may be soon — what do they cost? Take this quiz to find out.
Issa
I think, unless you were raped and didn't have a say in the matter, isn't it fair that you pay for your own abortion?
1It's not really about what's necessarily fair. To insurance companies, it's WAY less money for them to pay for an abortion than if you actually have the baby.
2Yeah it's heaps different in Australia because basically the government pays.. unless we have private health insurance which we don't really need.
3I'm very surprised that many insurance companies even cover it!
4@biarose - What about women that have issues with fetus abnormalities? Should they be paying for their own abortions?
Don't you mean the "Stupid" ammendment?
5Becoming pregnant is not like catching the latest illness making the rounds, where you go to the doc, he gives you meds, and insurance pays for it. When you get pregnant, it's because of your own actions, so...why wouldn't you pay for your own abortion? This study shows most women do anyway. This is a total non-issue. A select few getting upset about something benig taken away when it wasn't even there or wasn't even used in the first place. Let's pick something else to worry about.
6"When you get pregnant, it's because of your own actions, so...why wouldn't you pay for your own abortion?"
Anon- Great idea! Let's make smokers pay for their own cancer treatment when they get cancer from smoking cigarettes. And while we're at it, we should make anyone who's overweight and gets diabetes, high blood pressure, etc., pay for their care too! I mean they all had free choice and it's the result of their actions too!
7OMG, yoga, you stole the words right out of my mouth! I was also going to say that it would only be fair to ban insurance coverage for smokers and overweight people as well. Also, let's take it a step further and say that if you're determined to be at fault in an auto accident (or any other kind of accident), maybe you should have to pay your medical bills in those situations as well . . . HELLO PEOPLE, the purpose of insurance is to INSURE you, regardless of who is at fault for causing you to need medical treatment.
8exactly!!
how bout them damn homosexuals?? let's remove the insurance from unafforadble AIDS treatments to punish all pederasts and blasted junkies for their ungodly ways! let them rot in the backalleys where they belong, next to the child-wh*res with their murderous coat-hangers and the sloths with their obesity problems! let's punish all seven deadly sins by making them uninsurable!!
*shudder*
(what scares me the most is that there are people out there who actually say, believe and applaud speeches like that..)
9Mostly of the women chose to keep it private from employer-provider plans like parents and husband because some reason to chose.
10yeah, what Yoga said.
11You could even take it a step farther.. if you're going to say that overweight people or smokers should pay for their own healthcare, why not also stop giving health care to people who don't wash their hands often enough? or people who don't eat enough vitamin C? If those people get sick, it's their fault.
Health care should be EXPANDED, not cut back. This amendment is a step backwards for the US.
12Chouette4u got it right. In the eyes of an insurance company paying for an abortion is much cheaper than paying for a pregnancy, birth, and then later having that child added onto the policy. It's all about money. My insurance covers abortions and it's listed as elective termination of pregnancy in the coverage booklet. It's covered at 100% once a year with applicable co-pay required.
13i dunno what's more shocking; the answers to this quiz or that i got almost all of them right just by guessing! also, the fact that abortions are offered at 20 weeks (or after) really freaks me out!!
14I am NOT for the healthcare plan as proposed, but I have to say, if it does go into effect, I WANT abortions to be included. Perhaps this will help some lower-income mothers who don't want/are not prepared have more options, and therefore, I won't have to pay for their child for 18 years on welfare or watch as their unwanted child is neglected or left in foster care. It's a win-win in my opinon, because as someone else pointed out, abortions are cheaper than birth.
15What I find so odd is that I have a very good insurance plan and birth control pills are not covered. Talk about saving a ton of money.
16holy freaking sh*te. this was a slap in the face.
17Interesting, Anonymous 16. My first job out of college was at a company that was filled with literally 90% women. And our health insurance plan didn't cover birth control pills. This was years ago, and the company eventually switched plans, but it was pretty surprising.
18i pay a good penny for my insurance and mine does not cover ANY type of womens health services. Only my annual visit to the gyno and my pap. Birth control pills, abortions, nothing like that is even partially covered. i was paying $70 a month for birth control (ortho tri-cyclen lo). Now that i go to planned parenthood, its only $25 a month.
19I had an abortion through Planned Parenthood to make sure my privacy was respected. That was in 1992. Since then I paid for birth control pills, condoms, and the like. The man paid nothing, and I preferred it that way. I wanted there to be no loose ends with a man I might not see again.
Now that I'm in a long term relationship, it's fabulous that he's 'snipped', because now there are NO costs for me to prevent pregnancy. I still go to PP every 2 years for an exam, it costs me $35 because I'm below the poverty line.
Personally, I think insurance plans that do NOT cover birth control and contraception are shameful, especially if they cover ED drugs like Cialis and Viagra. What a joke.
20To make it clear, I live in Australia where we have Medicare so private health insurance is not essential, meaning that if someone wasn't paying for their own abortion generally that means tax-payers money is instead, which I don't think is right.
21and jennibean5- I'm of the opinion that just because a fetus has abnormalities should not mean it doesn't get a chance at life, but everyone has the right to their own opinion.
22Yoga, you stole the words out of my mouth ! The lung cancer thing was the first one that popped in my mind!
Not to mention that condoms are only 97% effective. And that even though you take your birth controls properly, accidents happen. This shouldn't even be an issue, women should have the right to decide what to do with their bodies without anyone interfering.
And yes, much cheaper to pay for an abortion than a life time of medicare in the best case scenario, or the state having to take care of the child if the mother decides not to raise it.
23In the UK I used to get the contraceptive pill for free. I have since had a radical hysterectamy for medical reasons - but now have to pay for regular HRT that I will need to take very day for the next 20 years... I am 37...
24I have yet to find any system that makes sense...
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